


pisces

by espressochoreom



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Everything Gay, F/F, Gay Panic, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Red Velvet MAkes MY Ass SwOon, wenrene is superior my gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 18:51:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14939885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/espressochoreom/pseuds/espressochoreom
Summary: In which a 24-year-old Joohyun is doing her laundry on a Tuesday morning when she recognizes someone across her washer. It's none other than Son Seungwan, the girl who made her earnestly question her sexuality in high school six years ago.





	pisces

**Author's Note:**

  * For [katarasvevo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/katarasvevo/gifts).



> this one-shot is a gift to my beloved gunk katarasvevo even tho she might not know about this ship all that much. lov u not
> 
> also, there is another copy of this posted on aff. same username, same format. u can also comment ur feels on there if u like. :^)

“Fuck,” Joohyun curses quietly through gritted teeth. Here she is on a Tuesday morning pacing at a laundromat in front of her apartment, and she stubs her toe against the wheel of a cart just when she reaches for the washing machine door. Briefly, she looks up—despite not wearing her glasses—to check if anyone has caught the graceless incident before looking back down.

A lady’s exposed stomach is what Joohyun’s eyes first land on, but immediately a wrinkly clothing blocks the sight. She mentally scans through the pea-sized filing cabinet that is her memory, trying to match the lady in her peripheral vision with a name. She has a particularly recognizable figure, but Joohyun remains unsure until time tiptoes to a sudden halt—because quickly, her face reveals, a subtle angle turning to a full fore. The lady grabs the last set of damp clothes from the washer before stroking the strands of her bangs. All the neurons in Joohyun's veins fire both mercilessly and warmly.

Her throat eventually becomes dry and so does the opening of her lips, although her brain enunciates every syllable of her name.

 _Son Seungwan._  
The one who questioned her sexuality so much during senior year that she falsely called in sick for two occasions. One on Valentines’ Day, and the other during graduation rehearsal.

Joohyun’s last year of high school not only qualified to be the most strenuous in terms of maintaining a stable academic reputation, but it also stood as the most dubious— to her identity, her thoughts, her truth.

Seungwan somehow unravels all of that layered complexity in one lop-sided charming grin. She meets Joohyun’s eyes and looks at her expectantly.

“Hey there, klutz.”

Just then, Paul Anka's _Put Your Head On My Shoulder_ begins to play around the whole building from the owner's speakers. Joohyun opens her mouth lightly, cheeks flushing crimson, and fingers starting to numb from tingling.

_Hold me in your arms, baby;  
Squeeze me oh-so-tight—_

Boy has she never felt so teased before.

She grips tightly on the handle of her basket and lets out a small smile because she knew waving a hand was too awkward to pull off. “Wow, hi, it's been–” _—relax—_ “what are you doing here?”

Seungwan then gestures her arms towards the washing machine that just started to spin and Joohyun lets out a chuckle, hoping her lack of common sense won't begin to consume the living hell out of her. She thinks of many ways their conversation can lead to and the number of possibilities clouds her head. Joohyun hasn't seen this woman in six years, and when she believes she has more than one thing to say, her lips betray her shut. Her brain is too packed and busy to timely react; it's continuously absorbing all of Seungwan’s presence.

_White crop top shirt, navy blue sweats, blonde hair, and everything... gay._

"I hear you're living on your own now," Seungwan begins, her voice unruffled.  
_And I heard you were planning to stay in Canada, too. I’m so confused._

Joohyun hums a short nod, glancing at the exit doors of the laundromat. An idea intrudes her head to just walk out and come back some other day but she immediately dismisses the thought with a strong gulp.  
“Yeah," she finally manages to say, while wetting her bottom lip. "I had to move out or else I wouldn’t be able to adopt a cat.”

The blonde-haired flashes one of her smiles once more, a gradual shine of light radiating through her eyes.

Although Joohyun prefers Seungwan's looks back then, with more weight and rounder cheeks, she is, without effort, still as astonishing. Christ, she really could be doing something ordinary like fixing the hem of her shirt and Joohyun would be rattled. 

Seungwan walks over to her, pushing a basket cart with one hand. “What'd you name your cat?”

“I named him after that astrological sign. Pisces.”  
Seungwan's eyes widen subtly in excitement. “ _My_  zodiac sign's Pisces.”  
Joohyun sneers softly, acting as if she hadn't known. She doesn't know whether to label herself as the most non-discreet person in the world or the town's top hopeless romantic. It takes a bit of energy out of her to sound as if the names had been coincidental. “Pisces is known to have a divine connection with Aphrodite and Vishnu, so it became a favourite sign of mine.”

_Note to future self: You are not fooling anybody with that kind of follow-up and you know it._

“And how about you?”  
Joohyun blinks. “Oh, I'm Aries.”  
Seungwan titters, or snorts, rather. It's been less than two minutes of talking and this is the first time in a long while that Joohyun hears her snort like that once again.   
"Forgive me, let me rephrase," the blonde-haired follows up, "how have you been? I wanna hear about you.”

Joohyun repeats the lovely voice in her head.  _How have I been?_

_How, have I, been._

“Well,” she replies, fixing her collar. “Moving out was a definite pain, but it really isn’t the hardest compared to the rest that has happened. I'm handling the stressful parts better than I used to.”  
"Such as?"  
"Proving to my father that I won't end up like my mother."  
Seungwan hauls herself up to sit on the counter without a word and Joohyun abruptly winces at herself for bringing that up. It seemed too heavy of a subject, even if it was realistic and true. It wasn't that she was uncomfortable to open up to her, but she did not want to poison the energy of the conversation either with news that sounded too much like misery. She turns to glance at Seungwan to detect the physical signs of uneasiness on her face.

There are none.    
Instead she's just looking right back, waiting for her to continue talking. 

The look Seungwan's face has leads Joohyun to think about the specific times when they used to have intimate conversations in high school. The ice cream hang-outs, the cafeteria, the library, the computer room, etc. Throughout those four years, she was aware of the fact that Seungwan had never been a difficult person to talk to, but the reality of her sitting an inch away after such a long time is just... really, too paralyzing. 

Just when Joohyun was about to change the topic, the sound of the washing machine tune coming from the dryer startles her, temporarily cutting off the conversation’s momentum. She reaches to get a basket cart before she remembers the content inside—her dried underwear and the rest of her whites. Joohyun decides not to get them out just yet and sits on the counter with her. The lack of customers in the building makes her feel grateful, but something also didn't feel quite natural. It was awkward; the tips of Joohyun's fingers won't stop tingling.    
“I can't believe I haven’t seen you in forever,” the blonde-haired utters after a while.  
“Forever?" Joohyun tips her head to the side, slowly grinning. "Didn't we go to the same school?”

Another chuckle comes out of Seungwan. It supplied Joohyun's lungs with pleasure.

_I missed that sound, Wan._

“You tell me, then.”  
Joohyun raises both of her eyebrows at the woman's reply. "Tell what exactly?"  
“You know, since I went back to the States after high school and then now I'm here agai-”  
“Right right—” she rubs the tip of her finger on her temple before licking her lips, “what’s the plan ma’am? Visiting? Is this a break from the foreign land?”

Is being in the exact same laundromat after six years likely for a person on a holiday?

“I was getting really sick of missing you,” Seungwan answers with the kind of grin that was hard to tell if it was genuine or playful. “So, you know, I figured I should pay a prompt visit to cure me of all that. ”

Joohyun makes herself jump, because her hips suddenly press some of the buttons of the dryer. Seungwan sneers at the sight before placing a palm on her knee, patting it. “Relax, I’m teasing.”  
_Doll, this is crap timing for your jokes._  
“What I mean is,” Seungwan resumes after a beat, “I’m not  _only_ visiting. I’m staying here for good. Actually, it's for the best, since I already said that once when I was packing for Canada.”

Joohyun sarcastically exaggerates a sigh, as if disappointed. For some reason she lets the lack of verbal response fall on her side of the conversation because she has a feeling that Seungwan wasn't finished with the teasing remarks yet.

The blonde-haired's voice turns into a soft murmur and it makes Joohyun want to act cheeky. 

“...I really was getting sick of missing you, was the other thing I’m trying to say.”

 

\- - - 

 

They talk about it all. A thousand words pour out in a stampede as the clocks tick. Reminiscing, of course, was inevitably the prevalent topic. Joohyun can't get herself to stop looking at the littlest details. It's impossible not to analyze what one hasn't seen throughout the years. 

Seungwan, being Seungwan, brings up the most disastrous memory of them together. April 2012, when the two of them ended up staying overnight in a standard single room during camp because of the misunderstanding with the advanced reservations. Seungwan is laughing with a look of mocking disapproval.  
“I was asking myself - is this girl for _real?_ Sleeping with one of their thumbs in their mouth and a leg draped over the whole ass blanket?”   
Joohyun sighs, lazily pointing a finger at herself, "All I'm hearing is that you're confessing to watching me sleep. Huh, weren’t you?”  
“I watched us get excluded from the activities that morning, yeah. You got me.”  
“You were totally watching me, like in those vampire movies that are supposed to be romantic but when you think about it, is really creepy for an old man physically stuck in his youthful appearance.”  
“Yeah? Who in here binge-watched the Twilight series and ended up liking it?”  
Joohyun avoids her gaze and doesn't answer, her lips pursed tightly to prevent herself from laughing.

“One down, Bae Joohyun.”

 

Other memories take a turn into a rather personal direction, such as how Joohyun listened to Seungwan’s whispered rants in the library regarding her chaotic relationship with her family at home, including how she stood up for Seungwan when someone framed her for plagiarism, and so on.

“Tell me something honest J," Seungwan softly calls out to Joohyun, clearing her throat. "I looked weird and fat in high school, didn’t I?”

As fast as a bolt, Joohyun's face turns into a frown, thrown off balance. It didn't have anything to do with what she said, but rather with the way she said it. Seungwan notices her reaction and swiftly chuckles to hide her embarrassment, shaking her head. "That's nonsense, don't mind it."

The silence fills the room for only a moment before Joohyun perks up restlessly. She doesn't know how to respond in a way that is genuinely believable to her, but she takes a shot at it anyway.

"I like how you look regardless, Wan."

Joohyun waits for any kind of reaction from her, but Seungwan only remains quiet and doesn't look at her for a while.

 

\- - -

 

“Here, better late than never,” Seungwan says after finishing her laundry, holding a brown paper bag placed behind her.  
Joohyun gazes at her, both relieved and perplexed. “What’s this?”  
“There was this time when I spilled juice on your skirt on the last week of school. I'm not too sure if you remember—my memory haunts me for little things like that.”

Seungwan is right—it doesn't ring a bell in her head at all—but she takes her word for it anyway. It naturally pleased her that Seungwan even kept a piece of her in her head. She takes the clothing out of the bag and squints in fascination as it's purchased from Japan.

“And you just happen to have this with you today?” Joohyun teased.

The blonde-haired scratched her head with another one of her cheeky grins, failing to maintain eye contact.   
“I think we both know that someone may have done some research to make it seem as if they caught you doing your favourite hobby.”

Joohyun does not see that line coming. The way Seungwan’s voice subsides makes her ears heat up infinitely and she has no fucking clue on what to do with herself. She grips on the skirt tighter to steady her breathing, growing silent even though the beating of her heart continues to hasten. Growing up with a very masculine father was Joohyun's greatest influence in learning how to suppress her emotions at a young age. Instead of talking about her feelings and showing her affection, she gradually learned and became used to the method of repression.

And it has been god damn exhausting.  
Baffling.  
Unnatural.  
Isolating.  
It makes her want to kick the mud out of her backyard and repent.

Joohyun was born in a kind of world where the accustomed idea of liking the opposite sex was morally correct and the only way out of exclusion. This, in exchange, has left her with a track record of failed relationships and many short-term friendships.

It has left her to believe that she deserved it.

It has left a head-aching Joohyun, often looking up at her ceiling at night with blank eyes, wondering and contemplating why she didn’t just go for her back then.

How she desired Seungwan to be her date for the graduation dance but she never acted upon it out of fear. How she sent Seungwan several cards on regular days just so she could get to witness more of her smiles. How the two of them were always in at least one class together every year and it instantly felt like they've always been best friends. How Seungwan partnered up with her to recite the script of Romeo and Juliet in Literary class, with Seungwan eager to have Romeo’s lines. How Seungwan gave her a copy of her graduation photo in 10th grade because she thought her smile looked vile in it when Joohyun thought, she looked her comeliest.

The engraved tension ascends all the way to the tip of her chin. She feels it physically sway her body, and she lets it.

It had been long overdue, but it's still necessary.

Joohyun plants a kiss on her cheek, delicately, near the lips. The rush of adrenaline flushing through her system motivates her to hold her hand, too. Seungwan's hand feels warm and sweaty, and this only causes Joohyun to smile. 

_“Thank you for coming back, Wan."_

**Author's Note:**

> 061518 ; 1:14 > this was heavily inspired by a gazillion things, from dramatized ig captions to basing it on a friendship with my crush irl, rv's level up project s1, and even a lil bit of rachel's first time doing her laundry with ross at a laundromat askakskahg (friends reference). i hoped at least one of you enjoyed the mix of subtlety and innocence between these two characters. tell me what you think (pretty wonderful please). 
> 
> up next, a steamy one-shot on blackpink's jensoo? lol stay tuned.  
> xox, ryan.


End file.
